Monday

[gardening] Winter Sown Perennials

My back yard has been littered with winter sown perennials in plastic jugs:

I put almost everything in the ground this past weekend. Some of the seedlings just needed more room to grow. The jugs started out with 4 inches of soil but after months of freezing and thawing and rain, that soil had compacted to a mere two inches. The seedlings I started in taller 6-inch food containers grew the tallest because there was more room for roots to grow.

A few things needed much warmer weather to germinate- lavender, chinese lanterns (I know, I've read the horror stories- I put these into a container), catnip and a few others only germinated a week or two ago. I had about 8 - 10 containers (out of 40+) that didn't germinate at all. I still put this soil into the ground- to see if something happens someday.

I need to start amending my soil- I didn't do anything this year but wherever the seedling don't grow and I need to put in new plants, I'll start working peat moss into the soil. At this point, after so much digging and planting, I'm certain that my soil is very much on the clay end of the spectrum.

Other than all that, the siberian lilies are coming up well in the new bed where I put them last year. I stopped by a plant sale Saturday morning to pick up new (well established) perennials- coreopsis, green wizard coneflower, ajuga, lily of the valley and hens/chicks.

Now I just want to get a new hobby and forget about everything for 4 weeks. Checking on every single plant multiple times everyday makes me think of the watched pot never boiling. I'm trying to come up with a list of fast and easy knitting, spinning, crochet, cross-stitch projects to keep me preoccupied.